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  STS-119: Crew assignments

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Author Topic:   STS-119: Crew assignments
Robert Pearlman
Editor

Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 10-11-2007 05:53 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Spacefacts lists the crew of STS-119 as:
  • Lee Archambault, CDR
  • Dominic Antonelli, Pilot
  • John Phillips, MS
  • Steven Swanson, MS
  • Joseph Acaba, MS (Educator)
  • Richard Arnold, MS (Educator)
  • Koichi Wakata, ISS Flight Engineer

OV-105
Member

Posts: 816
From: Ridgecrest, CA
Registered: Sep 2000

posted 10-11-2007 09:29 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for OV-105   Click Here to Email OV-105     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
So much for the 2004 class not flying on the Shuttle.

Jay Chladek
Member

Posts: 2272
From: Bellevue, NE, USA
Registered: Aug 2007

posted 10-12-2007 04:52 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Jay Chladek   Click Here to Email Jay Chladek     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Interesting how they assigned two educator astronauts to this flight. This should make for some interesting on orbit presentations.

eurospace
Member

Posts: 2610
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 10-14-2007 12:52 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for eurospace   Click Here to Email eurospace     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
It is also amazing that of the seven crew members, four have a family name beginning with an "A".

So as if they would now assign missions going through the alphabet ....

------------------
Jürgen P Esders
Berlin, Germany

International Director (Europe), Space Unit
Vice President, Weltraum Philatelie e. V.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Astroaddies

KSCartist
Member

Posts: 2896
From: Titusville, FL USA
Registered: Feb 2005

posted 10-14-2007 08:49 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for KSCartist   Click Here to Email KSCartist     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Hey Jurgen-

I'll bet George Zamka is glad he was assigned before those guys. Or maybe they're starting over again...?

Tim

Robert Pearlman
Editor

Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 10-19-2007 04:47 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
NASA release
NASA Assigns Crew for Final Solar Array Delivery to Station

quote:
NASA has assigned the space shuttle crew for Discovery's STS-119 mission, targeted for launch in the fall of 2008. The flight will deliver the final pair of power- generating solar array wings and truss element to the International Space Station.

Air Force Col. Lee J. Archambault will command Discovery. Navy Cmdr. Dominic A. Antonelli will serve as the pilot. The mission specialists are Joseph Acaba, Richard R. Arnold II, John L. Phillips and Steven R. Swanson. Antonelli, Acaba and Arnold will be making their first spaceflight.

STS-119 will be the second spaceflight for Archambault and Swanson, who flew together on STS-117 in June. Phillips will be making his third spaceflight.

Discovery will carry the S6 truss segment to complete the 361-foot-long backbone of the space station. The truss includes the fourth pair of solar array wings and electronics that convert sunlight to power for the orbiting laboratory.

Archambault considers Bellwood, Ill., his hometown. He was the pilot for STS-117. He earned a bachelor's and a master's in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from the University of Illinois-Urbana. He was selected as an astronaut in 1998.

Antonelli grew up in Indiana and North Carolina. He earned a bachelor's and a master's in aeronautics and astronautics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, and the University of Washington, Seattle, respectively. He has been a CAPCOM, or capsule communicator, during launch and landing of space shuttle missions. He was selected as an astronaut in 2000.

Acaba was raised in Anaheim, Calif. He earned a bachelor's and a master's in geology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the University of Arizona, Tucson, respectively. He has middle school and high school math and science teaching experience. He was selected as an astronaut in 2004.

Arnold, raised in Bowie, Md., earned a bachelor's degree in science and completed the teacher certification program at Frostburg State University, Md. He earned a master's in marine, estuarine and environmental science from the University of Maryland, College Park. He has teaching experience at middle schools and high schools around the world. He served as a mission specialist for the 13th NASA Extreme Environments Mission Operations, known as NEEMO, in August 2007. He was selected as an astronaut in 2004.

Phillips considers Scottsdale, Ariz., his hometown. He has logged more than 190 days in space, including STS-100 and Expedition 11 on the space station. He earned a bachelor's in mathematics and Russian from the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md., a master's in aeronautical systems from the University of West Florida, Pensacola, and a master's and a doctorate in geophysics and space physics from the University of California, Los Angeles. He retired as a Navy reservist captain in 2002. He was selected as an astronaut in 1996.

Swanson grew up in Steamboat Springs, Colo. He earned a bachelor's in engineering physics from the University of Colorado, Boulder, a master's in applied science in computer systems from Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, and a doctorate in computer science from Texas A&M University, College Station. He joined NASA as a systems engineer for the shuttle training aircraft in 1987 and was selected as an astronaut in 1998.

Members of the STS-119 crew were originally announced in 2002, but as a result of changes in the flight manifest, new crew assignments were necessary.


Delta7
Member

Posts: 1505
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007

posted 10-27-2007 06:51 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Delta7   Click Here to Email Delta7     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I'm curious as to why Michael Gernhardt isn't on the crew roster. He was on the original crew, and was the only one not re-assigned after Columbia. He's not listed as a Management Astronaut, so is technically available.

Also, why hasn't James Kelly been named to command a Shuttle flight yet? His last mission (STS-114) was before that of Mark Kelly (STS-124) Chris Ferguson (STS-126), and Lee Archambault (STS-119), so one would kind of assume he would have been named by now if such was in the cards.

Robert Pearlman
Editor

Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 10-27-2007 07:32 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
First rule of flight assignments: there are no rules...

(Okay, there are probably some rules, just none that we, the public, nor anyone outside the powers-that-be are privy.)

That said, with regards to Gernhardt, the trend thus far has appeared to be to build up flight experience within the astronaut office by giving those with fewer (or no) flights mission assignments (but that is not a hard or fast rule either, as demonstrated by Scott Parazynski in orbit now).

With regards to Kelly, he was among the first astronauts to make comments in print that he really desired to fly Orion. From 2005:

quote:
"I would take the flight on the new vehicle, and that's because it probably falls in line with being a test pilot... I love the shuttle. It's a fantastic vehicle. I'd love to be a commander. But on the other hand I'd love to fly the new vehicle as well... If everything goes off without a hitch, and we start flying shuttles more regularly again, then I'd say there's a relatively good chance I'd fly the shuttle one more time before it's over... [however] I'm very excited about the crew exploration vehicle, the moon and going on to Mars."

Delta7
Member

Posts: 1505
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007

posted 10-27-2007 08:09 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Delta7   Click Here to Email Delta7     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I kind of thought Kelly being more focused on Orion would be the most likely reason (although his recent bio update shows him as head of the Capcom branch. I would have thought he'd be involved with the cockpit design currently underway, or some facet of the initial design stage).

The fact that Gernhardt's flown 4 missions makes sense, but John Phillips isn't exactly a newbie. Maybe he feels he's had his fill, and is content supporting the effort in other ways.

All times are CT (US)

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